U.S. patent application number 14/172875 was filed with the patent office on 2015-05-21 for method and system for pre and post processing of beacon id signals.
The applicant listed for this patent is Richard Postrel. Invention is credited to Richard Postrel.
Application Number | 20150140982 14/172875 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 53058266 |
Filed Date | 2015-05-21 |
United States Patent
Application |
20150140982 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Postrel; Richard |
May 21, 2015 |
METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PRE AND POST PROCESSING OF BEACON ID
SIGNALS
Abstract
A wireless beacon message management system and method of
operating the system with a mobile device. At least one wireless
beacon is strategically located in a premises, such as a building
or other geocentrically defined area. Each wireless beacon has
means for transmitting a wireless beacon signal, wherein the
wireless beacon signal includes a beacon data message that has a
beacon identification that identifies the beacon transmitting the
signal, and optionally the content being delivered. A mobile device
such as a smartphone, tablet or the like receives the wireless
beacon signal and analyzes it to extract the beacon identification
and optional beacon content. The mobile device may then apply one
or more software filters to the beacon data message that enables
the mobile device to initiate an action based on the filtered
beacon data message.
Inventors: |
Postrel; Richard; (Miami
Beach, FL) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Postrel; Richard |
Miami Beach |
FL |
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
53058266 |
Appl. No.: |
14/172875 |
Filed: |
February 4, 2014 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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61904879 |
Nov 15, 2013 |
|
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|
61906939 |
Nov 21, 2013 |
|
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|
61929569 |
Jan 21, 2014 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
455/418 ;
455/552.1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04W 4/80 20180201; H04L
67/306 20130101; H04W 88/06 20130101; H04L 67/02 20130101; H04W
4/12 20130101; H04L 67/18 20130101; H04L 67/10 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
455/418 ;
455/552.1 |
International
Class: |
H04W 4/12 20060101
H04W004/12; H04W 4/00 20060101 H04W004/00 |
Claims
1. A computer-implemented method of processing a wireless beacon
signal comprising: a mobile device receiving from a beacon a
wireless beacon signal; the mobile device determining a beacon
identifier from the wireless beacon signal; the mobile device
pre-processing the beacon identifier with a beacon filter manager;
and the mobile device enabling a mobile application associated with
the beacon identifier to process the beacon identifier if allowed
by the beacon filter manager.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the beacon filter manager executes
locally on the mobile device.
3. The method of claim 2 wherein the beacon filter manager is an
application called by an operating system executing on the mobile
device.
4. The method of claim 2 wherein the beacon filter manager is
integrated within an operating system executing on the mobile
device.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein the beacon filter manager executes
remotely using cloud-based services.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein the beacon filter manager
pre-processes the beacon identifier with reference to a user
profile.
7. The method of claim 6 wherein the user profile is stored locally
on the mobile device.
8. The method of claim 6 wherein the user profile is stored
remotely using cloud-based services.
9. The method of claim 1 wherein the beacon filter manager applies
an ignore filter in which the beacon identifier is ignored and the
mobile application associated with the beacon identifier is
disallowed from processing the beacon identifier.
10. The method of claim 9 wherein the ignore filter is obtained by
reference to a no-action table in the user profile.
11. The method of claim 9 wherein the ignore filter specifies that
the beacon identifier will be ignored at all times.
12. The method of claim 9 wherein the ignore filter specifies that
the beacon identifier will be ignored based on the day of the
week.
13. The method of claim 9 wherein the ignore filter specifies that
the beacon identifier will be ignored based on the time of the
day.
14. The method of claim 9 wherein the ignore filter specifies that
the beacon identifier will be ignored based on the beacon
identifier.
15. The method of claim 9 wherein ignore filter is modified by a
user dashboard interface.
16. The method of claim 1 wherein the beacon filter manager applies
a display notification filter that displays a notification on the
mobile device of a source associated with the beacon
identifier.
17. The method of claim 16 further comprising the step of providing
a user option to allow or disallow the mobile application
associated with the beacon identifier to process the beacon
identifier.
18. The method of claim 1 wherein the beacon filter manager applies
an execute filter that automatically enables the mobile application
associated with the beacon identifier to process the beacon
identifier.
19. The method of claim 1 wherein the beacon filter manager applies
a queue filter that places the beacon identifier in a transaction
queue for subsequent processing.
20. The method of claim 19 further comprising the step of applying
a priority of service scheme to the transaction queue that provides
prioritization to a plurality of beacon identifiers in the
transaction queue.
21. The method of claim 20 wherein the priority of service scheme
is stored in the user profile.
22. The method of claim 20 wherein the priority of service scheme
is a FIFO scheme.
23. The method of claim 20 wherein the priority of service scheme
is based on a source associated with the beacon identifier.
24. The method of claim 20 wherein the priority of service scheme
is based on a wish list that identifies desired beacon
identifiers.
25. The method of claim 1 wherein the beacon filter manager applies
a utilization filter.
26. The method of claim 25 wherein the utilization filter performs
the steps of counting the number of beacon signals that have been
previously received from a beacon source identified in the beacon
identifier; allowing the mobile application associated with the
beacon identifier to process the beacon identifier if the number of
beacon signals that have been previously received from the beacon
source identified in the beacon identifier does not exceed a
predetermined threshold.
27. The method of claim 25 wherein the utilization filter performs
the steps of counting the number of beacon signals that have been
previously received from a category type associated with a beacon
source identified in the beacon identifier; allowing the mobile
application associated with the beacon identifier to process the
beacon identifier if the number of beacon signals that have been
previously received from the category type associated with the
beacon source identified in the beacon identifier does not exceed a
predetermined threshold.
28. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of the
mobile device analyzing the signal strength of the wireless beacon
signal to determine a distance from the beacon to the mobile
device; the beacon filter manager allowing the mobile device to
enable the mobile application associated with the beacon identifier
to process the beacon identifier as a function of the distance from
the beacon to the mobile device.
29. The method of claim 1 wherein the beacon filter manager applies
an access control filter that utilizes an external qualifier to
allow the mobile device to enable the mobile application associated
with the beacon identifier to process the beacon identifier.
30. The method of claim 39 wherein the external qualifier comprises
reward points in a reward account associated with the user.
31. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of the mobile
device executing a post-processing routine after the mobile
application associated with the beacon identifier has at least
partially processed the beacon identifier.
32. The method of wherein the post processing routing comprises a
product comparison service.
33. The method of claim 32 wherein the product comparison service
generates a query to a plurality of resources on the Internet to
determine information regarding a product associated with the
mobile application.
34. The method of claim 33 wherein results of the query from the
plurality of resources are provided to the mobile device.
35. The method of claim 31 wherein the post processing routing
comprises a web search.
36. The method of claim 35 wherein results of the web search are
provided to the mobile device.
37. The method of claim 31 wherein the post processing routine
comprises a transaction execution service.
38. The method of claim 31 wherein the post processing routine
comprises a beacon rating service.
39. The method of claim 31 wherein the post processing routine
comprises a calendar integration service.
40. The method of claim 31 wherein the post processing routine
comprises a weather information integration service.
41. The method of claim 31 wherein the post processing routine
comprises a traffic information integration service.
42. A mobile device comprising processing circuitry, program
storage, a user input device, a user output device, a short range
wireless interface for short range communication with a beacon, and
a network interface for wireless communications with a network,
wherein the program storage stores program code for programming the
processing circuitry to: receive a wireless beacon signal from a
beacon via the short-range wireless interface; determine a beacon
identifier from the wireless beacon signal; pre-process the beacon
identifier with a beacon filter manager; and enable a mobile
application associated with the beacon identifier to process the
beacon identifier if allowed by the beacon filter manager.
43. The mobile device of claim 42 wherein the beacon filter manager
is stored locally in the program storage on the mobile device.
44. The mobile device of claim 43 wherein the beacon filter manager
is an application called by an operating system executing on the
mobile device.
45. The mobile device of claim 43 wherein the beacon filter manager
is integrated within an operating system executing on the mobile
device.
46. The mobile device of claim 42 wherein the beacon filter manager
is stored remotely on an external server computer and is accessed
via the network interface.
47. The mobile device of claim 42 wherein the beacon filter manager
pre-processes the beacon identifier with reference to a user
profile.
48. The mobile device of claim 47 wherein the user profile is
stored locally in the program storage on the mobile device.
49. The mobile device of claim 47 wherein the user profile is
stored remotely on an external server computer and is accessed via
the network interface.
50. The mobile device of claim 42 wherein the beacon filter manager
is programmed to apply an ignore filter in which the beacon
identifier is ignored and the mobile application associated with
the beacon identifier is disallowed from processing the beacon
identifier.
51. The mobile device of claim 50 wherein the ignore filter is
obtained by reference to a no-action table in the user profile.
52. The mobile device of claim 50 wherein the ignore filter
specifies that the beacon identifier will be ignored at all
times.
53. The mobile device of claim 50 wherein the ignore filter
specifies that the beacon identifier will be ignored based on the
day of the week.
54. The mobile device of claim 50 wherein the ignore filter
specifies that the beacon identifier will be ignored based on the
time of the day.
55. The mobile device of claim 50 wherein the ignore filter
specifies that the beacon identifier will be ignored based on the
beacon identifier.
56. The mobile device of claim 50 wherein ignore filter may be
modified by a user dashboard interface.
57. The mobile device of claim 42 wherein the beacon filter manager
applies a display notification filter that displays a notification
on the user output device of the mobile device of a source
associated with the beacon identifier.
58. The mobile device of claim 57 wherein the processing circuitry
is further programmed to provide a user option to allow or disallow
the mobile application associated with the beacon identifier to
process the beacon identifier.
59. The mobile device of claim 42 wherein the beacon filter manager
applies an execute filter that automatically enables the mobile
application associated with the beacon identifier to process the
beacon identifier.
60. The mobile device of claim 42 wherein the beacon filter manager
applies a queue filter that places the beacon identifier in a
transaction queue for subsequent processing.
61. The mobile device of claim 60 wherein the processing circuitry
is further programmed to apply a priority of service scheme to the
transaction queue that provides prioritization to a plurality of
beacon identifiers in the transaction queue.
62. The mobile device of claim 61 wherein the priority of service
scheme is stored in the user profile.
63. The mobile device of claim 61 wherein the priority of service
scheme is a FIFO scheme.
64. The mobile device of claim 61 wherein the priority of service
scheme is based on a source associated with the beacon
identifier.
65. The mobile device of claim 61 wherein the priority of service
scheme is based on a wish list that identifies desired beacon
identifiers.
66. The mobile device of claim 42 wherein the beacon filter manager
applies a utilization filter.
67. The mobile device of claim 66 wherein the utilization filter
performs the steps of counting the number of beacon signals that
have been previously received from a beacon source identified in
the beacon identifier; allowing the mobile application associated
with the beacon identifier to process the beacon identifier if the
number of beacon signals that have been previously received from
the beacon source identified in the beacon identifier does not
exceed a predetermined threshold.
68. The mobile device of claim 66 wherein the utilization filter
performs the steps of counting the number of beacon signals that
have been previously received from a category type associated with
a beacon source identified in the beacon identifier; allowing the
mobile application associated with the beacon identifier to process
the beacon identifier if the number of beacon signals that have
been previously received from the category type associated with the
beacon source identified in the beacon identifier does not exceed a
predetermined threshold.
69. The mobile device of claim 42 wherein the processing circuitry
is further programmed to analyze the signal strength of the
wireless beacon signal to determine a distance from the beacon to
the mobile device; allow the mobile device to enable the mobile
application associated with the beacon identifier to process the
beacon identifier as a function of the distance from the beacon to
the mobile device.
70. The mobile device of claim 42 wherein the beacon filter manager
applies an access control filter that utilizes an external
qualifier to allow the mobile device to enable the mobile
application associated with the beacon identifier to process the
beacon identifier.
71. The mobile device of claim 70 wherein the external qualifier
comprises reward points in a reward account associated with the
user.
72. The mobile device of claim 42 wherein the processing circuitry
is further programmed to execute a post-processing routine after
the mobile application associated with the beacon identifier has at
least partially processed the beacon identifier.
73. The mobile device of claim 72 wherein the post processing
routing comprises a product comparison service.
74. The mobile device of claim 73 wherein the product comparison
service generates a query to a plurality of resources on the
Internet to determine information regarding a product associated
with the mobile application.
75. The mobile device of claim 74 wherein results of the query from
the plurality of resources are provided to the mobile device.
76. The mobile device of claim 72 wherein the post processing
routing comprises a web search.
77. The mobile device of claim 76 wherein results of the web search
are provided to the mobile device.
78. The mobile device of claim 72 wherein the post processing
routine comprises a transaction execution service.
79. The mobile device of claim 72 wherein the post processing
routine comprises a beacon rating service.
80. The mobile device of claim 72 wherein the post processing
routine comprises a calendar integration service.
81. The mobile device of claim 72 wherein the post processing
routine comprises a weather information integration service.
82. The mobile device of claim 72 wherein the post processing
routine comprises a traffic information integration service.
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] This application relates generally to wireless beacon
systems, and in particular to a system and method for a mobile
device to manage signals received from one or more wireless
beacons, including dedicated beacons as well as mobile smartphone
beacons such as those generated by a mobile smartphone or
tablet.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Wireless beacons are devices that generate and transmit
wireless signals in a relatively small area of coverage. For
example, a recent commercial product known as iBeacon from APPLE,
INC. is an indoor positioning system that uses Low Energy Bluetooth
(BLE) (also referred to as Bluetooth 4.0 and Bluetooth Smart).
Essentially, the iBeacon technology enables nearby mobiles device
(such as an IPHONE running IOS or an ANDROID device) to receive and
send messages over greater distances than NFC technology (near
field communications). For example, the iBeacon can send messages
over 150 feet. This technology is superior to GPS insofar as indoor
locations are concerned since GPS relies on communications with a
GPS satellite, which is generally not available in an indoor
environment. In addition, this technology enables much more
precision in locating the user and his mobile device.
[0003] A beacon in this respect may be a dedicated device or it may
be embodied in a mobile smartphone having the appropriate hardware
and software configurations. In the first case of a dedicated
device, it is envisioned that retail stores and other physical
locations would place these dedicated wireless beacons throughout
their premises, so as to enable the beacons to communicate with the
users' mobile devices as they approach, browse around, and leave
the store. Dedicated beacons could operate in a stand-alone or
networked environment. When operating stand-alone, they emit
signals that are detected by a user's mobile device and processed
by the mobile device (in standalone mode or in connection with
services in the cloud (i.e. the Internet)) to provide various
services and information. By interconnecting the dedicated beacons
on a network to a central server computer or to services in the
cloud, the system could track a user at any given time and
communicate with that user. For example, the system could determine
that the user is in a magazine aisle in a grocery store, and as a
result send a coupon for a magazine to that user's mobile device at
that time. Or, the system could determine that user is standing
near a product and send information about that product (or
complimentary products) to the user at that time. In another
example, a user may be visiting a museum, and strategically placed
dedicated beacons could track his location throughout the museum
and push information about objects in the museum that the user is
currently viewing.
[0004] Besides the dedicated beacons that operate in stand-alone
mode, networked mode, and/or cloud-based mode, a mobile device such
as a mobile smartphone or tablet may be configured to operate as a
beacon and provide additional services and features as will be
described.
[0005] As the use of wireless beacons proliferates, it has become
apparent that a user will quickly become bombarded with wireless
messages from the multitude of beacons which may surround him. For
example, a user may enter a shopping mall and be surrounded by
dozens if not hundreds of beacons, all of which may be competing
for the user's attention. The user's mobile device may begin to
receive hundreds of wireless messages, and it is likely that user
may simply ignore his device or even turn it off, in an effort to
avoid being bombarded with message after message after message,
many of which may be of little or no interest to that user. The
present invention addresses and solves this problem and will be
described in further detail below.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0006] Accordingly, provided is a first aspect of the invention in
which implements a wireless beacon message management system and
method of operating the system within a mobile device. At least
one, and likely many, wireless beacon(s) is (are) strategically
located in a premises, such as a building or other geocentrically
defined area such as a shopping mall, stadium, museum, etc. Each
wireless beacon has means for transmitting a wireless beacon
signal, wherein the wireless beacon signal includes at least a
beacon identifier that identifies the beacon transmitting the
signal, and in some embodiments the wireless beacon signal may also
include a beacon data message that includes the content being
delivered. A mobile device such as a smartphone, tablet or the like
receives the wireless beacon signal and analyzes it to determine
the beacon identifier. A beacon filter manager running on the
mobile device or in the cloud may then pre=process the beacon
identifier by applying one or more software filters to the beacon
identifier that enables the mobile device to initiate an action as
desired. The mobile device then may enable a mobile application
associated with the beacon identifier to process the beacon
identifier if allowed by the beacon filter manager. Although it is
envisioned that these beacons will be dedicated, a mobile
smartphone beacon may also be used in this aspect of the invention
to generate the beacon signals as described herein.
[0007] The beacon identifier may include a source identifier, a
major location identifier, and a minor location identifier. The
source identifier indicates the source or owner of the beacon, such
as a department store chain, which will be used to trigger an
associated mobile app if certain filter conditions are met. The
major location identifier may be used to indicate a general
location of the beacon, such as a store address. The minor location
identifier may be used to indicate a specific location within the
major location identifier, such as an entry door, a specific
department location, a specific floor in the store, etc.
[0008] The receiving mobile device pre-processes the wireless
beacon signal with the beacon filter manager, which may execute
locally on the mobile device (either within the operating system or
with a separate application called by the operating system) or
remotely using cloud-based services. The location services function
of the mobile device will make available the beacon identifier
which normally would then be used to trigger or call an associated
mobile application that is loaded or executing on the mobile
device.
[0009] The beacon filter manager analyzes the beacon identifier and
initiates one or more actions based on the beacon identifier,
optionally in conjunction with a user profile stored in memory on
the mobile device or in the cloud to provide actions that are
tailored to the user of the device. For example, one filter that
may be applied to the beacon data message indicates that the beacon
identifier should be ignored, such that the action initiated by the
mobile device is simply to ignore the beacon identifier as if it
had not been received. This may occur if a user indicates in his
profile that beacons from certain sources should be ignored, which
may be based on certain conditions such as time of day, day of the
week, etc.
[0010] Another type of action taken may be to simply display a
notification to the user that the source identified by the beacon
identifier is transmitting a beacon signal to the mobile device.
Optionally, the user may be given the ability to confirm that the
mobile app associated with that beacon source may be triggered
(such that the app will take certain actions such as displaying
purchase incentives etc.) or to indicate that the beacon should be
ignored. In this case the user is given the ability to filter out
certain beacons in real time as desired. Another type of action
that may be initiated is the automatic execution of a mobile
application resident in memory of the mobile device.
[0011] Another type of action that may be initiated is the
placement of the beacon identification in a transaction queue for
subsequent processing. For example, a priority of service scheme
may be implemented to handle multiple wireless beacon signals that
may be received at around the same time in quick succession such as
in a shopping mall in which all of the stores each use wireless
beacons. These messages may be placed in a transaction queue and
subjected to prioritization as determined by the user. For example,
a simple FIFO (first in first out) scheme may be used to allow
sequential processing in the order they are received. Or, the
beacon identifier may be analyzed to determine if certain beacons
are of immediate interest to the user and the given higher
priority, such as if the user has configured the priority to
process beacon signals associated with stores that sell electronic
devices before any other type of beacon signal. This may of course
be user-configurable wherein priority settings may be stored in the
user profile, which may be in the mobile device or in storage in
the cloud.
[0012] Another type of action that may be initiated is
post-processing of data provided by execution of an app triggered
by the beacon identifier. For example, the beacon filter manager
may allow a beacon identifier to trigger a mobile app associated
with an electronics store that the user is entering. The
electronics store mobile app may operate to provide a purchase
offer for display to the user on the mobile device. This purchase
offer may be post-processed by sending a request to an external
service in the cloud for analysis; for example a product comparison
service, a web search service, or a transaction service. In the
case of a product comparison service, the mobile device may be
configured to request the service to provide a product comparison
report from the product comparison service, which may include
prices at various merchants for a product that is being offered by
the mobile app. This would enable the user to quickly determine if
the product offer is at a desired price, or if another merchant
such as AMAZON may be selling the same product for a lower price.
In the case of a web search service, the mobile device may be
configured to request the service to execute a web search in real
time regarding the subject matter of the data provided by the
mobile app that was triggered by the beacon. For example, the
triggered mobile app may provide information regarding a store that
a user is entering; that information may be used to obtain a web
search report via the web search action, which may have further
information about the store. In the case of a transaction service,
the triggered mobile app may display a purchase incentive such as a
product coupon, and the coupon may then be used to execute an
online purchase of the product using an appropriate transaction
service. Transactions may be negotiated and executed if
desired.
[0013] In accordance with a second aspect of the invention, the
wireless beacon contains intelligence, or is interconnected with a
server computer locally or in the cloud that provides intelligence,
such that the beacon transmits more than just a beacon identifier
as in the first aspect of the invention discussed above.
[0014] In particular, the intelligent beacon provides beacon
content in addition to the beacon identifier, which may be acted on
by the mobile device without the need to execute an associated
mobile app to provide content to the user such as a purchase
coupon. The intelligent beacon differs from the beacon of the first
aspect above in that it includes processing circuitry and program
storage that enable it to provide beacon content such as
notifications, purchase incentives (i.e. coupons), and other
information in addition to its beacon identifier as described
above. This content may be generated and stored on the beacon
itself or the beacon may interconnect to a beacon server computer
on a local network or using cloud-based services. This enables an
enterprise to program the intelligent beacons to deliver content as
may be desired. For example, the enterprise may program the beacons
to deliver $20 discount coupons for plasma TVs, or other type of
beacon content, which may be changed by the enterprise when
desired.
[0015] At the core of this second aspect of the invention is a
beacon filter manager that is running on the mobile device and
which provides certain application post-processing functions
similar to what has been described above. The filter manager may be
a separate application executed when desired by a user, or it may
be tightly integrated into the operating system platform of the
mobile device if desired by the system designer. Alternatively, the
beacon filter manager may operate wholly or partially using
cloud-based services.
[0016] The beacon filter manager analyzes the beacon data (the
beacon identifier and/or beacon content) and initiates one or more
actions based on the beacon data, optionally in conjunction with a
user profile stored in memory on the mobile device or on a
cloud-based server to provide actions that are tailored to the user
of the device. Optionally, the beacon content may include a
template that requires customization by the mobile device before
continuing to process it.
[0017] One filter that may be applied to the beacon data indicates
that the beacon data should be ignored. This may be determined by
reference to a no-action table of beacon data established by the
user in the user profile, such that if any of the beacon data
matches the no-action table then the action initiated by the mobile
device is simply to ignore the beacon data as if it had not been
received. Beacon data may be ignored at all times, or it may be
ignored at certain times of the day or days of the week, etc. The
beacon data may be ignored as a function of the beacon identifier
as described with respect to the first aspect of the invention
above. Or the beacon data may be ignored as a function of the
beacon content within the beacon data.
[0018] Another type of action taken by the filter manager may be to
display a notification to the user on the mobile device of the
source of the beacon data being transmitted to the mobile device.
Optionally, the user may be given the ability to confirm that the
beacon content should be displayed directly on the device without
needing to invoke a mobile app, or that a mobile app associated
with that beacon source may be triggered (such that the app will
take certain actions such as displaying purchase incentives etc.),
or to indicate that the beacon should be ignored.
[0019] Another type of action that may be initiated by the filter
manager is the automatic execution of a mobile application resident
in memory of the mobile device. That is, the user may initiate an
override of any previously stored ignore commands in the no-action
table, such that all beacon data would be passed on by the filter
manager to an intended mobile app associated with the beacon
content without any further interaction by the filter manager.
[0020] Another type of action that may be initiated is the
placement of the beacon content in a transaction queue for
subsequent processing. These messages may be placed in a
transaction queue and subjected to prioritization as determined by
the user in the user profile or on-the-fly as they are being
received. For example, the user may specify that a simple FIFO
(first in first out) scheme be used to allow sequential processing
in the order they are received. Or, the beacon content (and/or
identifier) may be analyzed to determine if certain beacons are of
immediate interest to the user and then given higher priority, such
as if the user has configured the priority to process beacon
content related to electronic devices before any other type of
beacon signal.
[0021] Similar to the first aspect of the invention described above
in which an item such as a purchase offer generated by a mobile app
associated with an incoming beacon identifier may be post-processed
in one or more various manners (e.g. such as by a product
comparison service), this second aspect of the invention provides
for similar post-processing events to occur with respect to beacon
content received directly from a beacon.
[0022] One type of post-processing action is a product comparison
step, in which the mobile device may be configured to request a
third party service in the cloud to provide a product comparison
report which may include prices at various merchants for a product
that is being offered by the beacon. Another type of
post-processing action is the use of a web search service in which
the mobile device may be configured to request the web search
service to execute a web search in real time regarding the subject
matter of the beacon content provided by the beacon. Another type
of post-processing action is the use of a transaction service.
[0023] In an alternative embodiment, the beacon content may be in
the form of a template such that each mobile device would take
steps to complete or modify the template to present a message
customized to the user of the mobile device. As explained above,
the beacon filter manager determines if the beacon content may
include a template that requires customization by the mobile device
before continuing to process it. If so determined, then the
template is extracted/decoded from the beacon content. One of three
processing paths may then occur, based on what is required by the
template. In the first path, the user profile is accessed from
local or cloud-based storage, and information from that user
profile is used to complete or modify the template. Then the
completed template is passed back to the filter manager for
processing. Alternatively, in the second path, a mobile app is
accessed that is associated with the beacon identifier received and
decoded by the mobile device in the wireless beacon data signal.
The template is completed or modified by the mobile app, and then
the completed template is passed back to the filter manager for
processing. Optionally, the mobile app may also require information
from the user profile to complete the template. Finally, in the
third path, the template may be modified by interaction with the
user and then passed back to the filter manager for processing as
discussed above.
[0024] In an optional embodiment, the beacon may have the ability
to receive data messages from a user mobile device as well as
transmit the wireless beacon data signals as described above. In
this manner, the beacon could request information from the user
mobile device, which could respond based on information in the user
profile or based on real-time interaction with the user.
Additionally, the mobile device may be programmed to transmit
periodic queries that search for beacons having certain
characteristics. In this case, the user may be seeking to obtain
purchase coupons for a desire product, and may set a mobile app on
his device to transmit beacon search requests that would be
received by beacons within range. If a particular beacon is able to
provide the requested content, then it would respond to the
querying mobile device accordingly.
[0025] In accordance with a third aspect of the invention, the
beacon is a mobile smartphone beacon. That is, certain mobile
devices such as an IPHONE running IOS 7 may act as a beacon in this
environment so as to generate and transmit beacon signals.
[0026] Since these mobile devices also receive beacon signals, this
provides for intelligent two-way interactions and conversations,
thus enabling the features and functionality to be described
herein.
[0027] In accordance with a fourth aspect of the invention, the
user mobile device is capable of switching between GPS and beacon
location modes, either automatically or manually, depending on the
location of the device.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
[0028] FIG. 1 is a system level block diagram of the preferred
embodiment of the first aspect of the present invention.
[0029] FIGS. 2, 2A and 2B provide a flowchart of the basic
operation of the preferred embodiment of the first aspect of the
present invention.
[0030] FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an alternative embodiment that
uses a third party service.
[0031] FIG. 4 is a system level block diagram of the preferred
embodiment of the second aspect of the present invention.
[0032] FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the basic operation of the
preferred embodiment of the second aspect of the present
invention.
[0033] FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the operation of the template-based
embodiment of this invention.
[0034] FIG. 7 is a system level diagram of the preferred embodiment
of the third aspect of the present invention.
[0035] FIG. 8 is a more detailed diagram of the preferred
embodiment of the third aspect of the present invention.
[0036] FIG. 9 is a block diagram of a fourth aspect of the
invention that switches between GPS and beacon location
methodologies.
[0037] FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a mobile device used with this
invention.
[0038] FIG. 11 is an illustration of a user dashboard control
display that is used to control various parameters of the present
invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
First Aspect of the Invention--ID Transmit Only Beacon
[0039] A detailed description of the first aspect of the invention
will now be provided. In this aspect of the invention, the beacon
is referred to as being dumb since it is capable of transmitting
only a beacon identifier, and no other content, as will be
discussed in conjunction with the other aspects of the invention
below. References to a beacon in this first aspect of the invention
should in most cases be construed as a dedicated beacon, but where
appropriate a mobile smartphone beacon may also be used. This
aspect of the invention is discussed with reference to FIGS. 1-3
herein.
[0040] FIG. 1 provides a basic block diagram of the system that
implements a beacon 4 that transmits only a beacon identifier.
These beacons 4 are simple and thus inexpensive, and may be easily
deployed in a premises or other geocentric location 2 by an
enterprise or any entity wanting to broadcast its identity. A
commercial example of this type of beacon 4 is distributed by
ESTIMOTE. According to the web site at www.estimote.com, the
ESTIMOTE Beacon is a small computer with a CPU, memory, an
accelerometer, a temperature sensor, and a 2.4 GHz Bluetooth Smart
(otherwise referred to as BLE or Bluetooth low energy)
bidirectional radio, and can run up to two years on a single
battery. The beacon 4 broadcasts its presence by sending a wireless
beacon ID signal 5 continuously so that devices such as the user
mobile device 6 can receive and process it.
[0041] The mobile device 6 is capable of receiving the wireless
beacon ID signal 5 via the wireless Bluetooth transceiver 8 once it
is within range of the beacon 4, without the requirement of being
previously paired with the beacon. The operating system and/or
location services software 12 of the mobile device 6 is capable of
measuring the RSSI (received signal strength indication) of the
wireless signal 5, and as a result is able to provide a ranging
function that ascertains how far the device 6 is from the
transmitting beacon 4. By receiving signals from more than one
beacon 4, the ranging accuracy is improved and the device 6 can
more accurately determine its relative position with respect to the
beacons 4. Ranging calculations are known in the art and need not
be repeated here.
[0042] The mobile device processes the wireless signal 5 from the
beacon 4 and then demodulates/decodes the data from the wireless
signal to determine the beacon identifier. The beacon identifier
will typically but not necessarily include a source identifier, a
major location identifier, and a minor location identifier. The
source identifier is also referred to as the proximity UUID, and
may be a length of 16 bytes of data. This indicates the source or
owner of the beacon, such as a department store chain, which will
be used to trigger an associated mobile app if certain filter
conditions are met. For example, the department store chain TARGET
may provide beacons at all of its retail stores. Each of these
beacons would have the same source identifier string, so that a
mobile app executing on a user's mobile device 6 will be able to
feed the beacon ID signal to that TARGET app for processing. That
is, the TARGET app will request the operating system 12 to hand off
any beacon identifiers that arrive with the TARGET source
identifier. This process is known in the art, but is modified by
the present invention as will be discussed below.
[0043] The major location identifier is the second part of the
beacon identifier, and is generally a two-byte string that may be
used to indicate a general location of the beacon, such as a store
address. Thus, each beacon located at a 5.sup.th Avenue TARGET
store in New York City would have an identical major location
identifier (identifying the beacon as being located at that
5.sup.th Avenue store), as well as the same source identifier. The
minor location identifier is the third part of the beacon
identifier, and is generally a two-byte string that may be used to
indicate a specific location of the beacon, such as an entry door,
a specific department location, a specific floor in the store, etc.
Thus, by analyzing the beacon identifier, the operating system 12
can pass off the beacon identifier to the appropriate mobile app
(as identified by the source identifier), which will then know at
which retail location the user is located (as identified by the
major location identifier) as well as the specific location at
which the user is located or is approaching (as determined by the
minor location identifier and the ranging calculations).
[0044] The prior art beacon systems function as had been described
above, wherein a mobile app 18 is triggered by the receipt of a
wireless beacon ID signal 5 that includes a beacon identifier
associated with that mobile app. As discussed in the background, it
has been recognized that as the use of these beacons proliferates,
a mobile device may be bombarded with signals from many beacons at
once in certain areas such as dense cities or even shopping malls.
It is envisioned that this will become an untenable situation for a
user in which uncontrolled notifications, messages, applications
and the like are initiated by the multitude of beacons encountered
by the user ant any given time. Thus, this first aspect of the
invention solves this problem by giving the user complete control
over the processing of the beacon ID signals in a way heretofore
unavailable.
[0045] At the core of this first aspect of the invention is a
beacon filter manager 14 that is running on the mobile device 6 as
shown in FIG. 1. In the alternative, the functionality of the
beacon filter manager 14 may take place on a computer over a
network such as the internet 30 (also known as in the cloud). The
beacon filter manager 14 also provides certain application
post-processing functions that will be described in further detail
below. The filter manager 14 may be a separate application executed
when desired by a user, or it may be tightly integrated into the
operating system platform 12 of the mobile device if desired by the
system designer, or it may be provided on a server computer in the
cloud 30. In any case, the functionality of the filter manager 14
will now be described with respect to the flowchart of FIG. 2.
[0046] As described above, at step 200 the mobile device 6 receives
one or more wireless beacon ID signals 5 from beacons 4 that are
strategically located throughout a premises such as a shopping
mall. At step 202, the beacon identifier is decoded from the
wireless beacon ID signal by the mobile device, and the beacon
filter manager 14 intercepts the beacon identifier at step 204. The
beacon filter manager 14 pre-processes the beacon identifier and
initiates one or more actions at step 206 based on the beacon
identifier, optionally in conjunction with a user profile 16 stored
in memory on the mobile device 6 to provide actions that are
tailored to the user of the device. Optionally, the user profile 16
may be stored on a computer in the cloud 30 rather than or in
addition to being stored on the mobile device 6.
[0047] The various actions that may occur at step 206 are
illustrated in FIG. 2A. One filter that may be applied to the
beacon identifier is the IGNORE filter indicates that the beacon
identifier should be ignored at step 208. This may be determined by
reference to a no-action table of beacon identifiers established by
the user in the user profile 16, such that if the beacon identifier
matches the no-action table then the action initiated by the mobile
device is simply to ignore the beacon identifier as if it had not
been received. A beacon identifier may be ignored at all times
(unless modified by the user at step 228), or it may be ignored at
certain times of the day or days of the week, etc. For example, the
user may specify a preference in the profile 16 that provides for
ignoring beacon identifiers from any clothing shops, since he may
not want to be bombarded with clothing offers as he travels through
a shopping mall or on a city street. Or, he may want to filter out
any beacon identifier from a food establishment such as a
restaurant at times other than 6 PM through 8 PM. Or, he may want
to filter all beacons on Sunday or any other day selected. In this
case the user may be given complete control for filtering beacons
to be ignored with the IGNORE filter by using a control panel or
user dashboard 1102 (see FIG. 11) that may be accessible on the
user input/output 10 of the mobile device, which may for example be
a touchscreen display. Alternatively, in the case in which the user
profile is stored in the cloud, then the user may also be able to
access the control panel or user dashboard 1102 for viewing and/or
modifying the profile parameters via any client computer that may
be granted access to the profile in the cloud, such as a desktop
computer, laptop computer, tablet and the like, via for example a
web browser program.
[0048] Another type of action taken by the filter manager 14 may be
the DISPLAY NOTIFICATION filter, which acts to display a
notification to the user at step 210 on the mobile device 6 that
the source identified by the beacon identifier is transmitting a
beacon ID signal to the mobile device. For example, a popup
notification may state "TARGET Stores is attempting to send you
information". Optionally, the user may be given the ability at step
212 to confirm that the mobile app associated with that beacon
source may be triggered (such that the app will take certain
actions such as displaying purchase incentives etc.) or to indicate
that the beacon should be ignored. Thus, the user may be provided
with a confirmation window on the touchscreen display that states
"Would you like to accept the TARGET beacon?" Then the user can
check a "Yes" or "No" selection box, based on how the user wants to
handle the TARGET beacon at that specific moment in time. By
checking "Yes", the TARGET app would then be given access to the
TARGET beacon identifier as in the prior art, and take actions such
as displaying a coupon or other purchase incentive. By checking
"No", the TARGET app would not be triggered, and the TARGET beacon
identifier would be ignored as in step 208. As a result, the user
is given the ability to filter out certain beacons in real time as
desired.
[0049] Another type of action that may be initiated by the filter
manager 14 is the EXECUTE filter, which is the automatic execution
of a mobile application resident in memory of the mobile device as
shown at step 214. That is, the user may initiate an override of
any previously stored ignore commands in the no-action table, such
that all beacon identifiers would be passed on by the filter
manager 14 to the intended mobile app associated with the beacon
identifier without any further interaction by the filter manager
14. This override may be removed or modified by the user at any
time as desired by modifying the user profile 16 at step 228.
[0050] Another type of action that may be initiated is the QUEUE
action at step 216, which provides for the placement of the beacon
identification in a transaction queue for subsequent processing. In
this scenario, a multitude of beacon ID signals are received by the
user mobile device 6, such as in an area populated with many
beacons, all vying for the user's attention. Rather than ignore
these beacons, a priority of service scheme may be implemented at
step 217 to handle these multiple wireless beacon ID signals that
may be received at around the same time in quick succession. These
messages may be placed in a transaction queue and subjected to
prioritization as determined by the user in the user profile 16 or
on-the-fly as they are being received. For example, the user may
specify that a simple FIFO (first in first out) scheme be used to
allow sequential processing in the order they are received. Or, the
beacon identifier may be analyzed to determine if certain beacons
are of immediate interest to the user and then given higher
priority, such as if the user has configured the priority to
process beacon ID signals associated with stores that sell
electronic devices before any other type of beacon ID signal. This
may of course be user-configurable wherein priority settings may be
stored in the user profile 16 in the mobile device or alternatively
in the cloud. The priority settings are also referred to as a
WISHLIST feature 209, whereby the user may specify the beacons of
most interest to him, so that the WISHLIST generated by the user is
saved in the user profile for use in prioritizing and/or filtering
desired beacons of interest. For example, a user may specify the
following types of beacons on a WISHLIST:
[0051] 1. Electronics
[0052] 2. Fast food restaurants
[0053] 3. Music stores
[0054] The priority scheme would then place beacons received from
those types of establishments at the top of the queue so they are
viewed by the user before any other beacon. This may also
interoperate in conjunction with the IGNORE filter at step 208 such
that beacons received from any type of establishment other than
those in the WISHLIST 209 are ignored by the mobile device and not
presented to the user. These options are all configurable in the
user dashboard 1102 as described further below.
[0055] In addition to filtering the beacon signals as a function of
the beacon ID, the beacon signals may also be filtered and
processed as a function of the distance that the transmitting
beacon is from the mobile device, as shown at step 219 in FIG. 2.
As described above, the operating system and/or location services
software 12 of the mobile device 6 is capable of measuring the RSSI
of the wireless signal 5, and as a result is able to provide a
ranging function that ascertains how far the device 6 is from the
transmitting beacon 4. The beacon filter manager 14 may be
programmed to block out beacon signals that are at a predetermined
distance from the mobile device. For example, the user may specify
in the user profile that any beacon signal received from a beacon
that is measured to be more than X feet from the mobile device
should be ignored. Or, the user may specify that any beacon signal
received from a beacon that is measured to be less than Y feet from
the mobile device should be given a high priority in the processing
queue that was described above. Other distance parameters may be
established as desired by the user. The distance filter may be used
in conjunction with any or all of the beacon ID filters described
above as may be desired in order to provide the user with fine
granularity in managing the beacon signals that are received by his
mobile device.
[0056] Another type of filter that may be implemented is a
utilization filter 221, which may work in conjunction with the ID
filters and/or the distance filters described above. The
utilization filter 221 is based on keeping track of the number of
beacon signals that are received from a certain source, or from a
certain type of source, and limiting subsequent beacon signals from
being processed if the number already received exceeds a
predetermined threshold. For example, the sure might indicate in
his user profile that he only wants to see twenty-five beacon
signals from music stores in any given day, or he may indicate that
he does not want to see more than ten beacon signals from fast food
restaurants, etc. Or, he may indicate she only wants to see up to
five beacon signals from MACYs stores, or up to ten beacon signals
from TARGET stores, etc. In the alternative, utilization may be
based on a monetary value. For example, he may indicate that he
does not want to see any beacon signals having an incentive value
less than five dollars. These parameters may be set by the user in
his user profile and modified as desired. In addition to operating
in conjunction with the beacon ID at step 206, the utilization
filter 221 may work with the distance filters 219 as described
above. For example, the user may specify that he would only like to
receive five beacon signals per day from sources less than X feet
away, etc.
[0057] Yet another type of filter that may be utilized is an access
control filter as shown at step 223 in FIG. 2. The access control
filter 223 implements an external qualifier in order to pass the
beacons signal through to the associated app. For example, an
external qualifier may be that a certain number of loyalty or
reward points must be available in the user's reward account in
order for the beacon signal to be utilized. In this example, the
beacon may originate from a source that requires the user to be a
user with 10,000 AMERICAN EXPRESS MEMBERSHIP REWARD POINTS, or that
the set be MARRIOTT PLATINUM MEMBER, etc. This will enable
filtering out of those users without the desired reward/loyalty
status as may be desired.
[0058] Other types of filters and priority schemes may be utilized
with this invention in order to carry out the preferences of the
user, all of which could be modified by the user at any time via
the user profile 16. A default set of filters may be preloaded into
the profile in the event the user has not made any affirmative
choices in this regard.
[0059] After the filter manager 14 has processed, filtered,
prioritized, and otherwise managed the incoming beacon identifiers,
they are passed on to associated mobile apps as described above.
For example, a TARGET beacon identifier may indicate to the TARGET
app that the user is standing at the electronics counter of the
5.sup.th Avenue TARGET store in New York City, and display an offer
to purchase an XBOX gaming system at that location for $200. While
these notifications are intended to entice users to make purchases
on the spot, it is desired to take one or more actions in
conjunction with these mobile apps in order to provide an optimized
user experience. Thus, in the present invention, post-processing of
the actions taken by these mobile apps is undertaken in step 218 as
will now be described in detail at FIG. 2B.
[0060] One type of post-processing action is a product comparison
step 220 as shown in FIG. 2B and with reference to FIG. 3. In this
situation, the purchase offer made by the TARGET mobile app is
post-processed by the mobile device 6 sending via the Internet 30 a
request to an external third party service 32 for a product
comparison service. Here, the mobile device 6 may be configured to
request the third party service 32 to provide a product comparison
report that may include prices at various merchants for a product
that is being offered by the mobile app. That is, the product
comparison service would return to the mobile device a list of
alternative sources for the XBOX as well as the price terms from
each source. As such, the user could make an easy and quick
analysis of the $200 price being offered by TARGET to determine if
that offer has value or not to the user. This would enable the user
to quickly determine if the product offer is at a desired price, or
if another merchant such as AMAZON may be selling the same product
for a lower price.
[0061] Another type of post-processing action is the use of a web
search service at step 222. In the case of a web search service,
the mobile device 6 may be configured to request the web search
service to execute a web search in real time regarding the subject
matter of the data provided by the mobile app that was triggered by
the beacon. For example, the triggered mobile app may provide
information regarding a TARGET store that a user is entering; that
information may be used to obtain a web search report via the web
search action, which may have further information about the TARGET
store. Similarly, if a user is entering a ballpark, the web search
service could provide information from a web search regarding the
ballpark, the teams that are playing there, etc.
[0062] Another type of post-processing action is the use of a
transaction service at step 224. Here, the triggered mobile app may
display a purchase incentive such as a product coupon, and the
coupon may then be used to execute an online purchase of the
product using an appropriate transaction service. For example, a
manufacturer coupon from MICROSOFT may be displayed on the screen
of the mobile device when the user is approaching the electronics
department at TARGET. The user may be able to execute a
post-processing transaction that uses that manufacturer coupon
(since it is not specific to TARGET only) with AMAZON to purchase
the XBOX from AMAZON rather than TARGET.
[0063] Yet another type of post-processing action is a feedback and
rating function at step 234 that enables users to provide feedback
in the form of ratings or grades based on their opinion of the
functionality provided by any given beacon transaction. For
example, a wireless beacon ID signal may be received from beacon
located at a TARGET store, which after being processed by the
mobile device will call a TARGET app executing on the mobile device
and enable the TARGET app to display a purchase incentive to the
user. In this example, the purchase incentive may be a $5 coupon
for use in the food department of that TARGET store. At any point
after the coupon is displayed to the user, the rating function 234
may generate a message for display to the user that invites the
user to rate the beacon service just provided. The user may opt out
(decline), or may agree to provide the rating/feedback as
requested. By checking an appropriate box on the screen, the user
may then enter any type of rating that may be allowed for by the
system designer, such as a numerical rating (e.g. 1-10), a star
rating (e.g. 1-5 stars), a selection of one or more predefined
ratio terms (e.g. "Excellent", Good", "Fair", "Poor", "Terrible"),
or any other type of rating or feedback that may be desired. This
information may be collected by the beacon filter manager 14 and/or
the TARGET app itself, and eventually that information may be
provided to the TARGET company for analysis and evaluation.
[0064] Yet another type of post-processing action is a calendar
assistant function 236 that enables integration with a separate
calendar application or database that exists on the mobile device.
The calendar assistant function can access the user's calendar data
and determine if the user has availability at a certain date and
time. For example, a beacon signal may be received from a movie
theater as the user passes by in a shopping mall. The beacon signal
is processed along with an accompanying mobile app that would like
to determine if the user is available to view a movie that evening.
A calendar database/app on the user's mobile phone is accessed, and
it is determined that the user is available from 6-10 PM that
evening. A display is generated that reads:
[0065] "The movie "The Godfather" is playing from 6:30-9:30 PM at
the Acme theater to your left. Would you like to attend with a $2
discount tonight?"
[0066] The user is able to enter his response and optionally allow
the mobile app to make a calendar entry that puts the movie on his
calendar. The app can interact with the calendar app in other ways,
such as finding the next time the user is available that the movie
is playing, etc.
[0067] Another type of post-processing action is a weather
information function 230 that can interact with weather services
via the Internet and use the weather information from those
services to provide more intelligent and customized notifications
and incentives to the user. For example, a beacon signal may be
received from an outdoor amusement park as the user passes by. The
beacon signal is processed along with an accompanying mobile app
that would like to determine if the weather would be conducive for
the user to use the outdoor facilities. The weather information is
accessed from weather information source on the Internet
(optionally in conjunction with an associated weather app on the
mobile device), and it is determine that the weather is pleasant
for the remainder of the day for outdoor activities. A display is
generated that reads:
[0068] "The park "Rides 'n Games" is open on your left. The weather
is sunny for the rest of the day and the park will be open until 10
PM. Here is a $10 discount coupon avid for the rest of the
day".
[0069] Another type of post-processing actin is a traffic
information function 232 that can interact with traffic services
via the Internet and use the traffic information from those
services to provide more intelligent and customized notifications
and incentives to the user. The traffic information function
operates similarly to the weather information function described
above, except that traffic information is obtained and processed
for the user along with the beacon signal rather than weather
information.
User Dashboard
[0070] FIG. 11 illustrates an exemplary display of a user dashboard
1102, which may be viewed on a web browser on a computer, mobile
device, etc. In the case of a mobile device such as a smartphone or
tablet, the user dashboard 1102 may be viewed and configured in the
alternative using a dedicated app executing on the mobile device as
know in the art. In either case, the user dashboard enables a user
to view any or all of his user profile parameters and change them
if desired. In the example shown in FIG. 11, the user is able to
view his current profile settings. Here, the user has already
entered settings so that all beacons are ignore don Sunday,
restaurant beacons are ignored before 6 PM, and all beacons
containing an advertisement beacon re ignored after 9 PM. This user
has set a priority queue to process beacons in the electronics
category before any beacons in the sporting goods category, and all
other type sin a FIFO basis. Finally, this user has indicated in
his WISHLIST that he would like to seek out beacons from fast food
places (such as BURGER KING) and video game stores.
[0071] These user profile parameters may be modified in the section
above that is labeled configurable user profile parameters. By
selecting any of the parameters shown, he can change his profile
settings. For example, he can select the IGNORE:type parameter and
enter specific types or categories of beacons that he would like to
IGNORE and not be bothered with. This can be combined with the
IGNORE:time parameter for additional specificity. Thus, he is able
to set the filter that will ignore restaurant beacons after 6
PM.
[0072] The user profile settings are stored on his mobile device
for easy control and access, or in the alternative on a server
computer located in the cloud.
Second Aspect of the Invention--Intelligent Beacon
[0073] In accordance with a second aspect of the invention, the
wireless beacon contains intelligence, or is interconnected with a
computer(s) that provides intelligence, such that the beacon
transmits more than just a beacon identifier as in the first aspect
of the invention discussed above. This may be a dedicated beacon or
a mobile smartphone beacon as will be described.
[0074] A detailed description of the second aspect of the invention
will now be provided. In this aspect of the invention, the beacon
is referred to as being intelligent since it is capable of
transmitting beacon content in addition to a beacon identifier.
This aspect of the invention is discussed with reference to FIGS. 4
and 5 herein.
[0075] FIG. 4 provides a basic block diagram of the system that
implements an intelligent beacon 4a, i.e. a beacon capable of
transmitting a wireless beacon data signal 5a that includes beacon
content in addition to a beacon identifier (referred to herein as
beacon data). These beacons 4a are similar to the beacons 4
described in the first aspect of the invention above, and may be
easily deployed in a premises or other geocentric location 2 by an
enterprise or any entity wanting to broadcast its identity as well
as specific content to a user mobile device. The intelligent beacon
4a differs from the beacon 4 in that it includes processing
circuitry and program storage that enable it to provide beacon
content such as notifications, purchase incentives (I.e. coupons),
and other information in addition to its beacon identifier as
described above. Of course, in addition to being a dedicated
beacon, the beacon here may be a mobile smartphone beacon
appropriately configured. The content may be generated and stored
on the beacon 4a itself. Or, the beacon may interconnect to a
beacon server computer 20, which may be located on the premises 2
or offsite in the cloud 30 as desired. As such, an enterprise may
program these beacons 4a to deliver content as may be desired. For
example, the enterprise may program the beacons 4a to deliver $20
discount coupons for plasma TVS, or other type of beacon content,
which may be changed by the enterprise when desired. In this aspect
of the invention, the wireless beacon data signal 5a is demodulated
and decoded by the mobile device to provide the beacon data; i.e.
the beacon identifier (which may include some or all of the source
identifier, major location identifier, and minor location
identifier) and also the beacon content (e.g. a purchase
incentive).
[0076] As described above, the mobile device 6 is capable of
receiving the wireless beacon data signal 5a via the wireless
Bluetooth transceiver 8 once it is with range of the beacon 4a,
without the requirement of being previously paired with the beacon.
The operating system and/or location services software 12 of the
mobile device 6 is capable of measuring the RSSI (received signal
strength indication) of the wireless beacon data signal 5a, and as
a result is able to provide a ranging function that ascertains how
far the device 6 is from the transmitting beacon 4a. By receiving
signals from more than one beacon 4a, the ranging accuracy is
improved and the device 6 can more accurately determine its
relative position with respect to the beacons 4a. Ranging
calculations are known in the art and need not be repeated
here.
[0077] The mobile device processes the wireless beacon data signal
5a from the beacon 4a and then decodes the signal to determine the
beacon data (the beacon identifier and the beacon content). The
beacon identifier may be in the same format as described above in
the first aspect of the invention. The beacon content may be any
content that may for example be displayed on the screen of the
device such as a coupon (or which causes an action to take place on
the device).
[0078] As discussed in the background, it has been recognized that
as the user of these beacons proliferates, a mobile device may be
bombarded with signals from many beacons at once in certain areas
such as dense cities or even shopping malls. It is envisioned that
this will become an untenable situation for a user in which
uncontrolled notifications, messages, incentives, applications and
the like are initiated by the multitude of beacons encountered by
the user ant any given time. Thus, this second aspect of the
invention solves this problem by giving the user complete or
partial control over the processing of the beacon signals in a way
heretofore unavailable.
[0079] At the core of this second aspect of the invention is the
beacon filter manager 14 that is running on the mobile device 6 (or
in the cloud 30) as shown in FIG. 4. The beacon filter manager 14
also provides certain application post-processing functions that
will be described in further detail below. The filter manager 14
may be a separate application executed when desired by a user, or
it may be tightly integrated into the operating system platform 12
of the mobile device if desired by the system designer, or it may
be executed on a remote computer over the internet (in the cloud
30). In any case, the functionality of the filter manager 14 will
now be described with respect to the flowchart of FIG. 5.
[0080] As described above, at step 500 the mobile device 6 receives
one or more wireless beacon data signals 5a from beacons 4a that
are strategically located throughout a premises such as a shopping
mall. At steps 502 and 503, the beacon identifier and beacon
content are both decoded from the wireless beacon data signal by
the mobile device, and the beacon filter manager 14 receives the
beacon identifier and beacon content at step 504.
[0081] It is noted that there may not be a need for a mobile app to
be executed in association with the beacon ID as in the first
aspect of the invention discussed above that utilizes only the
beacon ID and has no beacon content. Since the mobile device in
this first aspect receives only the beacon ID from a dumb beacon 4,
there is a need for an associated mobile app to handle the receipt
of that beacon ID and provide the desired content to the user in
the form of a purchase incentive, notification and the like, as
known in the art (and as operated on by the beacon filter manager
as discussed above). However, in this second aspect of the
invention, there will be some sort of beacon content made available
directly from the intelligent beacon 4a, which may obviate the need
for the associated mobile app on the mobile device. For example,
the beacon content may be a simple purchase incentive that may be
displayed on the screen of the device without the need for any
interaction by a mobile app on the device. In some cases however,
as described further below, a mobile app may interact with the
received beacon content, such as if a purchase incentive template
is received by the mobile device and an associated app is executed
that modifies the purchase incentive template to the particular
user (e.g. user A gets a $50 coupon and user B gets a $60 coupon
off of the same template received from the beacon).
[0082] At step 504, the beacon filter manager 14 analyzes the
beacon data (the beacon identifier and/or beacon content) and
initiates one or more actions at step 506 based on the beacon data,
optionally in conjunction with a user profile 16 stored in memory
on the mobile device 6 or in the cloud 30 to provide actions that
are tailored to the user of the device. Optionally, the beacon
content may include a template that requires customization by the
mobile device before continuing to process it. If at step 504 it is
determined that the content includes a template, then the
processing branches to the loop at step 505 to customize the
template as will be described further below. Assuming that the
beacon content does not include a template and is otherwise
complete, then the filter manager continues to process the beacon
content at step 506.
[0083] One filter that may be applied to the beacon data indicates
that the beacon data should be ignored at step 508. This may be
determined by reference to a no-action table of beacon data
established by the user in the user profile 16, such that if any of
the beacon data matches the no-action table then the action
initiated by the mobile device is simply to ignore the beacon data
as if it had not been received. Beacon data may be ignored at all
times (unless modified by the user at step 528), or it may be
ignored at certain times of the day or days of the week, etc. For
example, the user may specify a preference in the profile 16 that
provides for ignoring beacon data from any clothing shops, since he
may not want to be bombarded with clothing offers as he travels
through a shopping mall or on a city street. Or, he may want to
filter out any beacon data from a food establishment such as a
restaurant at times other than 6 PM through 8 PM. Or, he may want
to filter all beacons on Sunday or any other day selected. In this
case the user may be given complete control for filtering beacons
to be ignored with a control panel or dashboard 1102 (see FIG. 11)
that may be accessible on the user input/output 10 of the mobile
device, which may for example be a touchscreen display.
Alternatively, in the case in which the user profile is stored in
the cloud, then the user may also be able to access the control
panel or dashboard 1102 for viewing and/or modifying the profile
parameters via any client computer that may be granted access to
the profile in the cloud, such as a desktop computer, laptop
computer, tablet and the like.
[0084] The beacon data may be ignored as a function of the beacon
identifier as described with respect to the first aspect of the
invention above. Or, if desired, the beacon data may be ignored as
a function of the beacon content within the beacon data. For
example, the beacon data may include a coupon for pet food that is
broadcast to all users within the vicinity of the beacon 4a. The
no-action table may indicate a rule that states that any beacon
content received that relates to pets will be ignored and not
displayed to the user. In this case, the mobile device need not be
aware of the identification of the beacon as coming from a pet
store, but can analyze the content of the beacon signal itself to
ascertain that it relates to pets, and that the user has instructed
the device to ignore any content relating to pets. This would be
particularly useful to filter out pet related content coming from a
store not otherwise identified as a pet store, such as a
supermarket.
[0085] Another type of action taken by the filter manager 14 may be
to display a notification to the user at step 510 on the mobile
device 6 of the source of the beacon data being transmitted to the
mobile device. For example, a popup notification may state "TARGET
Stores is attempting to send you pet-related information".
Optionally, the user may be given the ability at step 512 to
confirm that the beacon content should be displayed directly on the
device without needing to invoke a mobile app, or that a mobile app
associated with that beacon source may be triggered (such that the
app will take certain actions such as displaying purchase
incentives etc.), or to indicate that the beacon should be ignored.
Thus, the user may be provided with a confirmation window on the
touchscreen display that states "Would you like to accept the
TARGET beacon?" Then the user can check a "Yes" or "No" selection
box, based on how the user wants to handle the TARGET beacon at
that specific moment in time. By checking "Yes", the TARGET beacon
content received from the beacon 4a would then be displayed on the
screen, or an app would then be given access to the TARGET beacon
data as in the prior art, and take actions such as displaying a
coupon or other purchase incentive. By checking "No", the TARGET
beacon data would be ignored as in step 208. As a result, the user
is given the ability to filter out certain beacons in real time as
desired.
[0086] Another type of action that may be initiated by the filter
manager 14 is the automatic execution of a mobile application
resident in memory of the mobile device as shown at step 514. That
is, the user may initiate an override of any previously stored
ignore commands in the no-action table, such that all beacon data
would be passed on by the filter manager 14 to an intended mobile
app associated with the beacon content without any further
interaction by the filter manager 14. This override may be removed
or modified by the user at any time as desired by modifying the
user profile at step 526.
[0087] Another type of action that may be initiated at step 516 is
the placement of the beacon content in a transaction queue for
subsequent processing. In this scenario, a multitude of beacon
signals are received by the user mobile device 6, such as in an
area populated with many beacons, all vying for the user's
attention. Rather than ignore these beacons, a priority of service
scheme may be implemented at step 517 to handle these multiple
wireless beacon signals that may be received at around the same
time in quick succession. These messages may be placed in a
transaction queue and subjected to prioritization as determined by
the user in the user profile 16 or on-the-fly as they are being
received. For example, the user may specify that a simple FIFO
(first in first out) scheme be used to allow sequential processing
in the order they are received. Or, the beacon content (and/or
identifier) may be analyzed to determine if certain beacons are of
immediate interest to the user and then given higher priority, such
as if the user has configured the priority to process beacon
content related to electronic devices before any other type of
beacon signal. This may of course be user-configurable wherein
priority settings may be stored in the user profile 526 in the
mobile device or alternatively in the cloud.
[0088] Other types of filters and priority schemes may be utilized
with this invention in order to carry out the preferences of the
user, all of which could be modified by the user at any time via
the user profile 526. A default set of filters may be preloaded
into the profile in the event the user has made any affirmative
choices in this regard.
[0089] Similar to the first aspect of the invention described above
in which an item such as a purchase offer generated by a mobile app
associated with an incoming beacon identifier may be post-processed
in one or more various manners (e.g. such as by a product
comparison service), this second aspect of the invention provides
for similar post-processing events to occur with respect to beacon
content received directly from a beacon 4a at step 518.
[0090] One type of post-processing action is a product comparison
step 520 as shown in FIG. 5 and with reference to FIG. 3. In this
situation, the purchase offer made by the TARGET beacon 4a is
post-processed by the mobile device 6 sending via the Internet 30 a
request to an external third party service 32 for a product
comparison service. Here, the mobile device 6 may be configured to
request the third party service 32 to provide a product comparison
report which may include prices at various merchants for a product
that is being offered by the beacon 4a. Take for example the case
in which a beacon 4a located at a TARGET store sends in its beacon
content a purchase incentive in the form of a coupon that gives the
user a sale price for an XBOX for $200. In this case, the mobile
device at step 520 sends a request to the product comparison
service to provide pricing and other terms for the same XBOX from
alternative vendors such as AMAZON. The product comparison service
would return to the mobile device a list of alternative sources for
the XBOX as well as the price terms from each source. As such, the
user could make an easy and quick analysis of the $200 price being
offered by the TARGET beacon to determine if that offer has value
or not to the user. This would enable the user to quickly determine
if the product offer is at a desired price, or if another merchant
such as AMAZON may be selling the same product for a lower
price.
[0091] Another type of post-processing action is the use of a web
search service at step 522. In the case of a web search service,
the mobile device 6 may be configured to request the web search
service to execute a web search in real time regarding the subject
matter of the beacon content provided by the beacon 4a. For
example, the beacon 4a may provide information regarding a TARGET
store that a user is entering; that information may be used to
obtain a web search report via the web search action, which may
have further information about the TARGET store. Similarly, if a
user is entering a ballpark, the web search service could provide
information from a web search regarding the ballpark, the teams
that are playing there, etc.
[0092] Another type of post-processing action is the use of a
transaction service at step 524. Here, the beacon 4a may include
win its transmitted beacon content a purchase incentive such as a
product coupon, and the coupon may then be used to execute an
online purchase of the product using an appropriate transaction
service. For example, a manufacturer coupon from MICROSOFT
delivered by the TARGET beacon may be displayed on the screen of
the mobile device when the user is approaching the electronics
department at TARGET. The user may be able to execute a
post-processing transaction that uses that manufacturer coupon
(since it is not specific to TARGET only) with AMAZON to purchase
the XBOX from AMAZON rather than TARGET.
[0093] As described above, the beacon content such as a product
coupon may be generated by either the beacon 4a, or by a beacon
server computer 20 that interoperates with the beacons 4a. In the
simple case of an enterprise needing only a few beacons, the beacon
4a may include input and output that enables a programmer to
program the beacon content directly into the beacon, which would
then transmit that content as instructed. In another embodiment, by
using a central beacon server computer, an enterprise can readily
control the operation and data content provided by a multitude of
beacons that are interconnected to the server computer 20. This may
be done locally at the premises or in a remote location via a WAN
such as the Internet. In the case of a large enterprise with
multiple retail locations, such as TARGET, the use of a centrally
located beacon server computer 20 is advantageous. A programmer
could implement a dashboard 1102 or other control panel that
instructs particular beacons 4a to deliver the desire beacon
content, which may be tailored specifically in different regions
and in different stores, which may be changed at any desired time
based on product supply and demand or other market conditions, etc.
In one embodiment, the same beacon content would be broadcast to
all listening mobile devices by a beacon so that any user that
receives the wireless beacon data signal 5a would also be provided
with the same content; e.g. the same coupon for the same products.
Of course, this may be acted on in each individual user mobile
device by the filter manager 14 as described above, so the
resulting action on each mobile device may be different.
[0094] In an alternative embodiment, the beacon content may be in
the form of a template such that each mobile device would take
steps to complete or modify the template to present a message
customized to the user of the mobile device. As explained above, at
step 504, the beacon filter manager 14 determines if the beacon
content may include a template that requires customization by the
mobile device before continuing to process it. If at step 504 it is
determined that the content includes a template, then the
processing branches to the loop at step 505 to customize the
template. This flows to step 600 in FIG. 6. As shown in FIG. 6, the
template is extracted/decoded from the beacon content at step 600.
On of three processing paths may then occur, based on what is
required by the template. In the first path, at step 602, the user
profile is accessed, and information from that user profile is used
to complete or modify the template at step 604. At step 606, the
completed template is passed back to the filter manager for
processing at step 506 as discussed above. For example, in this
case the template is a coupon to purchase an XBOX with a discount
of either 10% if the user is an adult or 20% if the user is a
teenager. By accessing the user profile, it may be determined in
which demographic the user is, and the applicable discount may then
be tailored to that user accordingly.
[0095] Alternatively, in the second path, a mobile app is accessed
that is associated with the beacon identifier received and decoded
by the mobile device in the wireless beacon data signal 5a. At step
610 the template is completed or modified by the mobile app, and
then at step 610, the completed template is passed back to the
filter manager for processing at step 506 as discussed above.
Optionally, the mobile app may also require information from the
user profile at step 602 to complete the template. Finally, in the
third path, the template may be modified by interaction with the
user at step 612 and then passed back to the filter manager for
processing at step 506 as discussed above.
[0096] In an optional embodiment, the beacon 4a may have the
ability to receive data messages from a user mobile device as well
as transmit the wireless beacon data signals 5a as described above.
In this manner, the beacon could request information from the user
mobile device, which could respond based on information in the user
profile or based on real-time interaction with the user.
Additionally, the mobile device may be programmed to transmit
periodic queries that search for beacons having certain
characteristics. In this case, the user may be seeking to obtain
purchase coupons for a desire product, and may set a mobile app on
his device to transmit beacon search requests that would be
received by beacons within range. If a particular beacon is able to
provide the requested content, then it would respond to the
querying mobile device accordingly.
Third Aspect of the Invention--Mobile Smartphone Beacon
[0097] In a third aspect of the invention, the beacon is a mobile
smartphone beacon that has processing, wireless communications, and
user input means as well known in the art. A mobile smartphone such
as an IPHONE that executes the IOS 7 operating system may be
programmed to operate as a beacon as well known in the art. In this
aspect of the invention, multiple users carry their mobile
smartphone beacon 6a as they travel around. The beacon 6a may be
configured to periodically transmit beacon signals 700 as the user
moves about (or remains stationary). Other mobile smartphone
beacons 6a may receive these beacon signals 700 and process them as
will be described herein. As they process these signals, they may
elect to interoperate with the other beacons using methodologies
and processes as now described.
[0098] One application of the use of the mobile smartphone beacon
6a is to enable parties to communicate with each other, i.e. in the
field of social interaction for business or personal purposes. A
mobile smartphone beacon may be programmed with an app that enables
broadcast communications with a number of other users that may be
executing the same app. This broadcast app enables a user to set
certain parameters in a profile that is stored with the app. The
profile may be established by the user entering data, and/or by the
app referring to external databases to obtain information about the
user, and/or by the app logging certain activities of the user and
using logic such as artificial intelligence to analyze the
activities monitored. For example, the user may enter basic data
such as the user's name, geographic location including optionally
his or her address, contact information such as an email address or
the like, preferences such as desired activities (e.g. sports and
music), demographic information such as income (e.g. $150,000 per
year), gender, race, sexual preference, age, hobbies, interests,
and the like. The app may then refer to external databases such as
a social network web site such as FACEBOOK, TWITTER, PINTEREST,
etc. to obtain further information about that user. By observing
certain activities of the user with respect to the smartphone, such
as logging using the GPS features where and when the user likes to
travel, or observing shopping patterns, the app can make further
determinations with respect to the user. All of this information
may be stored in the user's profile associated with the app. The
user may be required to give permission (i.e. opt in or out) to the
app to generate and/or use certain portions of the profile. A
dashboard page may be accessible to the user to enter, view,
modify, or delete any or all parts of the user profile if desired.
As previously described, the profile may be stored locally on the
mobile device or in the alternative remotely on a server computer
in the cloud.
[0099] In a first embodiment, the app will broadcast certain
information about the user as obtained from the profile. For
example, the app may broadcast that the user is a single 40-year
old male who likes hockey and football, as well as music and
literature, and who makes between $100K-$200K per year. This
information, along with an anonymous transmitter identifier, will
be coded into a signal to be transmitted by the app via the beacon
transmission protocol, which is known in the art. The beacon signal
700 will be broadcast by the mobile smartphone 6a as shown in FIG.
7, so that other mobile smartphones 6a in range of the broadcast
signal will receive and process the signal. In one embodiment, the
receiving smartphone(s) will have the same app as used by the
broadcasting smartphone or a companion app that is compatible with
the broadcasting app. Those users would have their apps set to a
listen mode (which may be done manually automatically or by
default), so that they can receive and process broadcast signals as
they also travel about.
[0100] In this example, one of these smartphones that is executing
the required app will receive the beacon signal broadcast by the
transmitting device, and then be able to process the signal it has
received. The receiving app will analyze the received data
regarding the broadcasting user with respect to a user profile
stored locally or remotely in association with the receiving app.
This receiving user profile may contain preferences set by the user
with user input, or in combination with intelligence provided by
the app, which provides a framework for the analysis. The receiving
user profile may specify what types of persons that the recipient
is willing to engage with. For example, the receiving user profile
may specify that the recipient is willing to engage with males with
an interest in music who earn between $100K-$200K per year. This
matches the profile data that was transmitted by the transmitting
beacon smartphone. Thus, a positive match will be flagged for this
received data. In another example, the recipient may state that she
is not interested in anyone who likes sports, in this case there
would be a negative match since the broadcasting beacon has
indicated an interest in sports as well as literature.
[0101] In the event there is a positive match, one of several
actions may be taken. In one example, a notification may pop up on
the screen of the recipient's smartphone (or an audible tone) that
alerts her to the fact that a positive match has been detected for
some broadcasting a beacon signal in the area. The matching
information may also be displayed so the recipient user can more
easily analyze the data. If the recipient user would like to
proceed based on the matching data, then she can trigger the next
action which may be to send out a beacon signal that contains the
transmitting identifier received from the transmitting beacon
device, as well as profile data from the recipient's user profile
that would be useful in making a further assessment by the initial
transmitting user. Also included in the beacon signal is a
recipient identifier that identifies the user who has received the
initial beacon signal, analyzed it, and decided to return a signal
to indicate a potential interest in the transmitting user.
[0102] The initial transmitting device will receive the beacon
signal and analyze the signal, detecting the initial transmitting
identifier as well as the recipient's identifier. Now that both
devices have the identifier of the other device, they are able to
negotiate and communicate with each other in this broadcast mode
yet be able to discern those communications as being responsive to
each other. As such, the apps on each device are able to analyze
the data received from the other device with respect to the user's
profile on their own device, and make intelligent decisions as to
whether the other party is one which they would like to further
engage. This may be done on an automatic basis, or there may be
manual assistance by interacting with the user of the device. For
example, a notification may be displayed to a user: "We are in
contact with a 40 year old female who likes music and hockey, and
who is employed by a law firm in NY. Shall we continue to
communicate with her or cease further communications?" As such,
each party can continue this beacon-based interaction or terminate
it, as desired. This may lead to an exchange of contact information
(email or phone number), names, etc. Or, a meeting could be set up
via this protocol, for example "A meeting is schedule for 5:00 PM
today at Joe's Bar on 5.sup.th Avenue--Confirmed?" That can be
confirmed, edited, denied, etc. This process enables users to
exchange information on an automatic, semi-automatic, and/or manual
basis as they travel throughout an area. This will help persons
find other persons with desired interests and traits that would
otherwise be unattainable. In addition to the personal information
interchange described above, this may also apply to professional
situations, for example for people seeking out certain types of
other people at professional events such as trade shows and the
like.
[0103] This process works well for enabling a user to filter and
analyze a number of responses to an initial beacon signal. For
example, a user may transmit a beacon signal with his information
that may be replied to be a large number of recipients. In this
one-to-many scenario, the user may then select those profiles that
are most desirable, which may be done automatically or with
assistance of the user. The number of recipients may be further and
further reduced with additional exchange and queries, until the
desired match is found and acted on.
[0104] In this aspect of the invention, the mobile smartphone
beacon may operate in a search mode or a seek mode. In the search
mode, the user configures the smartphone beacon to look for
something specific, and the user will provide search parameters
that help the beacon accomplish the search requirements. For
example, the user may configure the search mode to find a single
unattached Caucasian female around 25 years old, with blonde hair
and a height in the range of 5'7'' to 5'10'', having an income over
$100K per year, with an education of 4-year college or higher. The
search app will use these search terms to filter out and negotiate
with potential recipients in a very granular fashion, as described
above. In the seek mode, there are no requirements provided, and
the user is able to see what types of communication recipients may
be available regardless of any predefined search parameters (also
referred to as an open search).
[0105] This invention may act as an advertising or billboard
service by enabling users to broadcast certain information via the
beacon system. Potential recipients may receive the beacon signals
and act accordingly. For example, the owner of a mobile pet
grooming service may drive around with an intelligent beacon that
broadcasts the availability of its pet grooming services using the
technologies described above. Interested recipients may get the
service notifications on their device screens and continue a
dialogue that could, for example, set up an appointment for
grooming services for their pet at a mutually convenient time,
wherein a calendar application executing on the user's mobile
device is accessed to assist in scheduling a grooming appointment.
These terms and others may be negotiated between the devices in a
manual, automatic, or semi-automatic manner.
[0106] As beacons interact with each other and exchange information
as described above, certain assumptions may be made using a fuzzy
logic or artificial intelligence component. For example, when two
intelligent beacons exchange information regarding a search being
made by one of the beacons, and the searching beacon continues to
refine its search parameters by rejecting potential communications
in the process, then the receiving beacon can log that information
and make intelligent decisions at subsequent times with that beacon
or any different beacon as the case may be.
[0107] From a security perspective, user verification methodologies
as known in the art may be employed if desired, such as PIN code
entry, biometrics such as fingerprint or retina scans, etc. This
may be used as a manner of verifying the identity of a user during
the beacon interaction and communications processes. Similarly,
encryption and data obfuscation techniques may be utilized to
ensure that data being transmitted between beacons as described
herein cannot be intercepted and understood.
Fourth Aspect of the Invention--GPS/Beacon Switching
[0108] In a fourth aspect of the invention, the user mobile device
6 is capable of switching between GPS and beacon location modes,
either automatically or manually, depending on the location of the
device 6. As previously mentioned, GPS technology is in mainstream
use and provides the ability of GPS-equipped devices to ascertain
their location. This usually will only work outdoors, since GPS
receivers rely on line of sight to several GPS satellites that
orbit above the earth. That is, once the GPS receiver is moved
indoors (or in a tunnel, etc.) and can no longer receive the
signals transmitted by the GPS satellites, then the GPS receiver
cannot continue to track its location. Thus, when the user mobile
device, which in this case is equipped with a GPS receiver (such as
an IPHONE), travels around outdoors, it is within the line of sight
of one or more GPS satellites 900 as shown in FIG. 9. In FIG. 9,
the mobile device 6 is shown having a module referred to as
location services 902, which uses one or more types of external
input to ascertain the location of the mobile device. Various
applications that execute on the mobile device 6 can use the
location information generated by the location services 902 on the
mobile device. For example, a mapping program could illustrate to
the user where on a map the device (and the user) are located. Or,
a mobile shopping app could ascertain that the user is located near
a TARGET store and generate a TARGET coupon or other incentive.
[0109] Since GPS technology will generally not work indoors, the
user mobile device will be unable to determine its location with
any accuracy once it enters an indoor location and ceases reception
of the GPS signals. For example, a user may enter an indoor
shopping mall, and the device will know it has entered the mall but
will be unable to track the user's travels throughout the mall.
This aspect of the invention enables the location services module
902 to detect when it has ceased reception of the GPS signals, and
will then utilize the beacon technologies heretofore described in
order to continue to track the location of the device 6 while
indoors at the mall, as shown in FIG. 9. This may be accomplished
through an automatic switching mechanism embedded in the location
services module or in the operating system, or optionally in any
application that utilizes the information provided by the location
services module. Thus, once the GPS signal strength drops below a
certain threshold amount, and the device can no longer process its
location via GPS, then the beacon technology will initiate and
continue to track the location inside the premises. This can switch
back once the device has left the premises and can receive GPS
signals in measurable strength again. In addition to this automatic
switching between GPS and beacon location technologies, a user
provide a manual selection of which technology he or she would like
to use at a given time. For example, when the user travels around
outdoors he may select use of the GPS signals, and once he enters a
building he may then manually select use of the beacon signals.
Other Applications of the Intelligent Beacon Systems
Gaming and Rewards
[0110] Beacons may be used in a gaming and/or rewards environment,
as will now be described. Beacons that communicate with each other
as described throughout this application may engage in a gaming
scenario. Various games may be executed between two or more beacons
in various ways. For example, users could participate in a
geocaching game in which a control beacon sends out location
coordinates to participating beacons, and the participating beacons
display a map to the user that enable the user to travel to that
location. Once the beacon arrives at that location it can send back
its coordinates to the control beacon for verification purposes.
The user may be required to enter certain information or answers
questions about the target locations for additional verifications.
Users who accomplish these tasks could be given rewards such as
reward points or other shopping incentives. For example, a contest
game could be implemented in which the first user to travel to
certain locations in a store, and verify their travels as mentioned
above, receive a $10 coupon off their next purchase at that store.
In addition, sweepstakes and gambling methodologies could be
implemented with the intelligent beacons described herein.
Reservations
[0111] Beacons may be used for making reservations with a
restaurant or other type of establishment. As described with
respect to the per grooming example above, the beacon app would
integrate with the user's calendar app on his mobile device so as
to make the reservation process seamless and require little manual
effort by the user.
Third Party Network Subscriptions
[0112] Merchants and other uses of the beacons may implement their
own dedicated system by providing, programming, and otherwise
maintaining beacons as described herein. In the alternative, third
party providers may be implemented that provide this service to
customers such as merchants in a turnkey operation, thus relieving
those merchants and other users of the tasks involved in
implementing these systems.
* * * * *
References